Trudy Mackay, the director of the Clemson University Center for Human Genetics, has been honored by the Linnean Society of London with the Darwin-Wallace Medal, one of the top international prizes in evolutionary biology.
Mackay is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on the genetics of complex traits.
Her groundbreaking research uses the common fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to discover the genetic roots of complex traits — traits that are influenced by multiple genes — that are important to human health.
“I was surprised and delighted to learn that I am the recipient of the 2025 Darwin-Wallace Medal. It is a great honor to join the ranks of the celebrated evolutionary biologists who are recent and past recipients of this prestigious award,” Mackay said.
The Darwin-Wallace Medal was originally awarded in 1908 to commemorate the anniversary of the reading of a joint paper by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace at a meeting of the Linnean Society on July 1, 1858. The paper, “On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties: and the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection,” introduced the idea of evolution through natural selection.
The first medals awarded in 1908 were awarded to Wallace himself and six others. The awards were given every 50 years until 2010, when the Linnean Society began awarding it to one person annually in recognition of the growing importance of research on evolutionary biology.
“Dr. Trudy Mackay’s receipt of the 2025 Darwin-Wallace Medal is a remarkable achievement and a testament to her pioneering contributions to evolutionary genetics,” said Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Robert H. Jones. “Her groundbreaking research continues to shape our understanding of complex traits and inspire the global scientific community. Trudy’s work exemplifies the excellence we strive for at Clemson, and this honor further underscores the transformative impact of her scholarship on human health and the future of genetic research.”
Essential and groundbreaking contributions
A citation by the Linnean Society said Mackay “has made essential and groundbreaking contributions to the analysis of quantitative traits. Working primarily with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, she has transformed our understanding of the genetic basis of quantitative traits from complex statistics to complex genetics.”
The citation continued, “Trudy generated the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP), a population of inbred wild-derived fly lines with sequenced genomes which she made available as a community resource. The DGRP represents the most extensive eukaryotic genetic reference panel available to date, is used by laboratories worldwide and has significantly impacted evolutionary genetics research both domestically and internationally.”
The Darwin-Wallace Medal is the latest of many honors for Mackay.
Mackay, the Self Family Endowed Chair of Human Genetics at Clemson, was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2024. She already was a member of the National Academy of Science.
Earlier that year, she was elected a Laureate Distinguished Fellow of the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI), an international organization dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary research and collaboration across engineering, technology and related scientific fields.
In 2021, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743. Mackay was the first professor in the state of South Carolina and Clemson to become a member.
Mackay is a recipient of Trinity College’s Dawson Prize in Genetics, which is awarded to geneticists of international prominence. She is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society of London. Mackay received the 2016 Wolf Prize for Agriculture.
The Linnean Society of London was founded in 1788 and is named for Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus. It is the world’s oldest active organization devoted exclusively to natural history.
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